Of Songs and Confessions
by Hidenka-chan101
Summary: EDITED! This story follows a simple performance that will lead to something more. WARNING YAOI & OC! If you cannot stand either, go to the next story! Lemons in future chapters.
1. Part I

**A/N: It has been too long since I've even looked at this fic. So sorry for the long hiatus but I am now back to finish what I started! ^_^ Okay, so I have edited some of the contents, I hope the story flows a little better now. Have updated up to Ch. 5, will be reworking all chapters and there will be new ones coming up! Thanks again for those of you who are still waiting ^_^**

**Of Songs and Confessions**

**Part I**

"You want us to WHAT?!"

"You heard me. Or, if you're a little hard of hearing, you can read my lips."

"Tsunade Baa-san, have you had too many sakes or something?"

"Yeah Hokage-sama, what's with this **important task** you want us to do?" Kiba growled, none too pleased with what he was hearing.

"Like Tsunade-sama explained, we have to do it." Shikamaru stated as a matter-of-factly.

"Are you sure there is no one else who can do this, Hokage-sama?" The Hyuuga inquired earnestly.

Sighing, Tsunade laced her fingers together before leaning on her elbows on her paperwork cluttered desk. A vein throbbed in her temple, as she fought the urge to solve this childish behavior with her fists. The only thing she is quite thankful for at the moment is the fact that Lee hadn't also said anything stupid, but that might be due to the Uchiha's looming presence. Closing her eyes momentarily, the Godaime mentally pictured exactly how she would like to kill the blonde jinchuuriki and his canine friend. Yet, even with the power of Hokage, it seems that Tsunade can't ever really do whatever she wanted. So, taking a deep, deep breath, the Godaime proceeded to explain their current situation, again.

After 20 long minutes, it seemed like the Godaime was finally making progress. Without even waiting for Naruto to open his mouth, she quickly dismissed them and sent them on their merry way. As the door closed behind them, Tsunade sank heavily into her chair and absentmindedly reached for her secret stash of sake.

"I do hope they understand. If not," she muttered, while taking a generous swig of alcohol, "then there will be trouble."

Having left the Hokage building in an annoyed rage, both Naruto and Kiba stopped right outside of the entrance door and looked for the first thing they could pulverize, consequences be damned.

"Stupid baa-san!" Naruto lashed out and punched one of the trees that lined the path leading to the main entrance, the force of the hit uprooting the poor deciduous.

"I know right!" Kiba replied in earnest as he too picked on the nearest shrub, clawing at it like it was a scratching post. Seeing his master vent his anger out on the plant, Akamaru decided to add his two cents by peeing on it.

"Ano, should you not be using your energy for the mission?" Lee asked while striking his signature pose.

His question was only met with more uprooting of trees and more shrubs being torn apart. Shikamaru sighed as he watched with his usual bored expression as his friends continued to take out their frustration on the vegetation that surrounded them. Scratching the back of his head, the Shadow master mulled over the mission and though he didn't quite agree with Naruto and Kiba's method of dealing with the situation, he could not dismiss the fact that they were in a bit of a jam. Looking over at the other two standing next to him, the jounin hoped that either Neji or Sasuke would have something more enlightening than deforestation. Before he could even ask, the Uchiha was already five feet away from them.

"Oi, Sasuke! Where are you going?"

"Home"

"But we need to figure out how we're actually going to move forward with this."

"It's not really my problem."

"H-Hey! Figures…"

No matter how many times Shikamaru called after the ex-rogue, nothing seemed to deter him from heading home. Shoving his hands in his pockets, the Nara kicked at a stray pebble and mumbled under his breath. Throughout the entire time, Neji had not spoken a word, not even to keep Sasuke from leaving the group. The white-eyed Byakugan user was leisurely leaning against the wall, arms crossed and eyes closed.

"Man is this troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, "Hey, you two, stop demolishing the place."

Both Naruto and Kiba growled at Shikamaru, but stopped what they were doing. Panting slightly from the energy used, they walked back to the other three.

"All right, let the Spring of Youth help us with out mission. Yosh!" Lee pumped his fist in the air, grinning from ear to ear.

"Someone's excited." Kiba scowled at the teen for his enthusiasm.

"It is an unexpected opportunity for us to train and strengthen our powers."

"Are you going to use this 'skill' to defeat your enemy?" Kiba sneered.

"It may not be enough to take down a foe, but I can at least distract him." The look on Lee's face was so full of determination, both Naruto and Kiba were worried the Taijutsu master might really consider doing it and making them learn it in the process.

Sighing, Shikamaru was still wracking his brain for anything that would help him figure out exactly what the next step should be. He mentally visited the appropriate shops in his mind, but nothing came to him. It was like asking Kiba to give Akamaru a pink dye job because it would help him with the ladies.

"You do realize that standing around here will not resolve our dilemma, Shikamaru." Neji asked calmly.

"I know that," Shikamaru replied exasperatedly, "do you have a better idea?"

"If you would, please follow me." Neji directed and started to lead the small ragtag group of shinobis away from the Hokage tower.

Shoulders hunched in defeat, Naruto and Kiba followed behind a gleeful Lee, who was shouting encouragements to the two behind him.

"So, where are we headed?" Naruto asked in dread.

"Lee's dojo." Neji simply answered.

With that said, nothing more was exchanged between boys until they reached their destination. Lee's dojo was far from the village, the surrounding area virtually deserted and it was an added bonus that many of the villagers refrained from going anywhere near the area. Lee stepped forward and unlocked the doors to the wooden establishment and beckoned everyone in. Once inside, everyone sat down on one of the many cushions that littered the dojo's floor. They sat like that for a few minutes, in brooding silence.

"Naa, you guys heard what the Godaime said, she chose us to be in charge of the entertainment at the annual inter-village ball, we have to choose songs to sing and play it ourselves. That being said, does anyone here know how to perform?" Shikamaru looked around at the other four, expecting an answer.

Lee shot his hand in the air and looked seriously at the lazy nin,

"I can sing."

That said, Lee stood up and started to sing a strangled version of "Genie in a Bottle", which sounded like a cat dying while it was being raped by a mouse, Lee went as far as to mimic the dance moves of the original singer. Rolling his hips and even attempting to shake his ass in a sexy kind way, if at all possible.

"Okay, Gejimayu you could stop that now." Naruto hurriedly said, completely terrified of his friend.

"That was quite an…eye opener, Lee. Is there anything **else** you can do?" Shikamaru was looking at the taijutsu expert, hoping beyond hope that he wasn't going to start singing again.

"Yes, I can play the drums." Lee grinned broadly, ready to show the others his hidden talents.

"Really?" Shikamaru asked curiously, as he scanned the dojo looking for the drum set.

"Which leads us to another problem, what exactly are we supposed to be doing for 'entertainment'?" Kiba interjected, cutting Lee off before he could answer.

"I suppose it would help if we had some sort studio to work in." Naruto said.

"I have one of those." Lee said, head bowed and left hand. His other hand drifted across the floorboards, searching for the hidden board and pressing down on it. The floor where they were all sitting on suddenly caved in and everyone landed in an underground room.

Sasuke lay on his bed, his brows knitted together in frustration. Since he has returned to the village, he hasn't been able to eat, sleep, think, or train without having a certain someone invading his thoughts. Somehow, he had a suspicious feeling that his subconscious was doing it on purpose, tormenting him with thoughts about **that** person. After defeating his brother and finding out the true reason why his family was slaughtered, Sasuke had gone on his rampage trying to destroy everything and everyone who had a hand in it. But he was eventually saved from destroying Konoha when it was revealed that he was nothing more than a tool. A tool used for the destruction and control of the entire planet, which had nothing to do with what he was trying to achieve; for Sasuke realized that even with the perfect world reflected onto the Earth, it would never bring back his parents or his brother and by realizing this, Sasuke was able to stop himself from destroying everything and everyone.

Thinking back on this, Sasuke couldn't help seeing every detail of their body pressed close to his or the feel of the bare skin of their arms touching as they exchanged blows. Pressing his arm over his eyes, he hoped to block out the mental image on his mind 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But to no avail.

"Kuso"

He breathed a heavy sigh, knowing full well that the feelings that had started to bloom within his dead heart would not be returned, since the love, yes love, he felt would most definitely not be returned.

"Then I will make you hate me, so that you'll always remember me."

With that thought, Sasuke got up from his bed and headed for his father's study. Once he reached his destination, the Uchiha heir began rummaging through the bookshelves for the materials he would need to accomplish his goal. Even as he thought about it, it pained him to know that he would have to resort to such measures to ensure that he stayed, even for a moment in someone's memory. As he searched around the room for what he needed, he spied an old picture of Team 7 sitting on one of the shelves. Stopping what he was doing, the raven haired teen picked up the picture and looked at it closely.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Sasuke assumed that his other teammates also had a copy of this photo, a photo that was from a completely different timeline. They all looked so young; obviously he was able to see the hate and loathing in his own eyes, frozen in time. But nonetheless, he assumed, they were a lot happier back in the day. No knowledge of Akatsuki or Orochimaru or even Madara Uchiha. They were simply another three-man cell that was meant to be trained so that too can carry out missions either for the village or loaned out to neighboring towns.

Sasuke grimaced a little at the last thought. Of course he knew what it meant to be a shinobi, they are the foot soldiers whose sole purpose is to protect the Land of Fire. He supposed that was what angered him the most back when he was younger. Paired with the fact that his own brother was ordered to kill his entire family, it would drive anyone to their breaking point. Now that he thought about it, the Sharingan user wondered what would have happened if he were part of another team? Would Sakura or Naruto have fought tooth and nail to bring him back? Smiling one of his rare smiles, Sasuke put the picture back on the shelf and pushed those 'what if' questions out of his mind.

"I seem to be asking a lot of questions nowadays."

Shaking his head, the raven haired teen was surprised how much influence the people around him had affected his attitude. Granted, he was still an asshole, silent and didn't really like having girls hanging off of him. But it seemed like some of the wall he had built so long ago around him had begun to chip away, although his temper is still something to be aware of it didn't lead him that much anymore.

Leaving the bookshelves for the desk, Sasuke opened and closed a series of drawers before finally finding the papers and pens he was looking for. Taking them out of the bottom drawer, he laid them out on the desk and sat down with pen poised over a blank sheet. Sasuke stayed like that for five minutes until he realized that he didn't know what he wanted to do. He had an inkling as to what the end result should be, but no real plan as to how to get to said goal. Tossing the pen aside, he glared at the papers on the desk, as if it was their fault for not providing him with a solution to his dilemma. Then it hit him, getting up and moving towards the window, Sasuke hoisted himself up and out onto the rooftop and headed to town.


	2. Part II

**Part II**

"What is this place, Lee?" Neji asked, acting completely normal.

"This," Lee started, then turned on the lights, revealing the expanse of the room to his friends, "is where I practice my own 'talents'" Lee grinned at his stoic teammate.

Looking around at their surroundings, the boys noticed that the contents of the room included a drum set, acoustic guitars, a baby grand piano, a violin, a marimba and a variety of smaller instruments. Almost all the instruments present in the room looked pretty beat up, like someone threw the instruments out of disgust, vowing never to lay eyes on them again. Curious, Kiba went over to the baby grand, it looked ancient. Most of the paint was worn off the lid and the legs looked like they could use a metal bracket to keep them from snapping. Lifting the cover, the canine-nin pressed the C key and a clear steady note rang throughout the room.

"Gejimayu, where'd you get all this stuff?" Naruto asked.

"Well, Gai-sensei said that I should not just train my body, so I –"

"I asked where you picked up these beat up instruments, not why you took up music."

"Oh, well, one of the stores near the outskirts of town was going out of business, and the poor owner was not able to sell these, so I took them." Lee shrugged.

"Did you pay for this junk?" Kiba asked.

"Of course!"

"We'll discuss the minor details later. Now, what kind of show can we put together?"

"I have an idea —"

"Who else has an idea?" Shikamaru added quickly, not wanting to hear Lee's version of singing again.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably, none of them denying or confirming if they had any musical talents or not. Seeing no reaction from any of his friends, Shikamaru sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. Pulling out a cigarette, he chewed on the filter before lighting the stick of tobacco. The little swirls of smoke hovered above his head like small grey halos before disappearing into the air.

"Troublesome, "Shikamaru muttered, "We're not getting anywhere like this. Naruto, what can you do?"

"Huh?" the blond dumbly answered Shikamaru's question. A slight blush had started to creep its way across his nose.

"We're wasting time like this. Naruto, can you sing, play an instrument, do standup comedy, something?" the lazy nin repeated, slightly irritated.

"Well, I can mmrmm" Naruto mumbled the last part, making it difficult for anyone to catch what he said.

"Naruto just come off and say it, dammit!" Kiba yelled at the blond.

"We don't have all day for this." Neji added, giving a stern stare at the blond.

"Wh-why are you all picking on **me** for?! What about you, Dog-breath, what can **you** do?!" Naruto yelled out.

"Shikamaru asked you first." Kiba countered.

This continued for a few minutes, until the lazy nin walked over to one of the drum sets and kicked the bass drum. The sound reverberated against the walls, Shikamaru then noticed an acoustic guitar with chipped green veneer that was leaning against the china cymbal. Without paying any attention to the curious looks he got from his comrades, Shikamaru picked up the instrument and sat down on one of the chairs in the room, the lazy nin started plucking the strings. Slightly adjusting the tightness of the strings, Konoha's laziest ninja started to play something, soon he was singing to the music he was creating. Listening intently, all four shinobis noted that Shikamaru had a nice, smooth and soft voice. Without stopping, Shikamaru turned his attention to his friends.

"I can sing and play the acoustic guitar. Anyone else?" he said this in his usual bored tone, completely ignoring the awed looks of his comrades.

"Well, I…I can sing, play the guitar and…"Naruto broke off once again, head bowed down in embarrassment.

Glancing at his teammates through his bangs, Naruto bit his lip. Never one to back down, he shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. Holding it out to Shikamaru with his head turned to the side; the hyperactive blond had a slight blush to his cheeks, but ignored it as he waited for the lazy nin to take the offered paper.

Raising an eyebrow, Shikamaru got off of the chair and took the paper from Naruto's outstretched hand. Skimming the contents, the pony-tailed shinobi raised a questioning eyebrow at the blond.

"You wrote this?" Shikamaru asked, wondering if the blond simply ripped it off of someone else in the village.

"Yeah…but it's really random though" the blond answered, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's pretty good. You even have the music to go with it." The lazy shinobi commented, once again surprised by what the jinchuuriki was able to accomplish, without anybody realizing it.

"Let me see." Kiba took the sheet of music from Shikamaru's hand without even waiting for a reply. Scanning the lyrics and the music, Kiba frowned, slightly jealous.

"Kiba." Neji held out his hand, waiting for the dog-nin to hand him the sheet of music.

Looking up at the Hyuuga, Kiba held out the piece of paper wordlessly, but didn't budge from where he was standing. Wordlessly, Neji walked over to where Kiba was standing and took the offered paper from the brunette without a word and he too scanned the contents of the paper. Scrunching his nose, Kiba returned to the baby grand and looked around for the bench that should accompany it. Finding the bench underneath the belly of the piano, the brunette pulled it out and parked himself comfortably in front of the keys. Ghosting his fingers across the 88 keys, it was almost like the dog-nin was greeting a long lost friend.

"How were you able to bring a baby grand down here without anyone noticing?" the brunette asked

"Oh, I carried that down here. It's not that heavy actually. It's all thanks to the Spring of Youth that I was able to do it really." Lee grinned and gave his 'nice guy' pose.

Chuckling at the response, Kiba pressed a few random keys, testing out the tune of the piano. Smiling at the results and the confused looks on the other guys in the room, the brunette cracked his knuckles and began playing Claude Debussy's Claire de Lune. The soft and somewhat sad melody echoed throughout the room. Since the so called 'studio' was not soundproofed, the walls worked as a natural reflector for the music.

"Who would have thought that Dog-breath could play so well?" Naruto asked jokingly, his trademark smile in place.

"Hn" Neji simply grunted in response.

Feeling slightly out of place, the Byakugan user looked around at the various instruments that were strewn around the room. There was nothing that he could play, Neji was never really into music and he never saw the need to distract himself from his duties as a guard for Hinata-sama or as a shinobi. All his efforts, since he was young was all focused on training; even more so than Lee. Breathing a deep sigh, the lavender-white eyed teen honestly had no idea how he was going to contribute to the task. On any other mission, he would have been the one to give orders and he knew that was capable, but now this; this was beyond even his knowledge.

"Okay, so we have a drummer, a pianist, two vocals, two on guitar and a lyricist." Shikamaru ticked off his fingers as he listed off the talent.

"What do you plan on doing?" Neji asked, slightly eager to contribute.

"I honestly don't know."

oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo 

Keichiro walked down the crowded streets of Konoha, looking for a certain pink-haired kunoichi. Five years have passed since Sasuke Uchiha's return and it seemed as if nothing has changed, save for everyone having a lot less time to spend hanging out. Of course there were criminals and corrupt officials here and there, but it seemed like the Hokage was sending the shinobi out more like a chore than a necessity nowadays. No one was complaining about the down time they had, it provided more time to train young genins and there was always the Chuunin exams in the fall. And yet, every so often, villager or shinobi alike would look over their shoulder, expecting danger.

Sighing in frustration, the kunoichi glanced up and down the main street, hoping to catch a glimpse of pink. But to no avail. Today was the only day any of them had any time off, save for Tenten, who was off on an errand with her grandmother.

"Where is she?" she grumbled under her breath

"Where's who?"

Jumping slightly at the voice, Keichiro turned around, hands on her hips and ready to give whoever it was hell. But she was surprised to see Sasuke standing there, smirk firmly in place, onyx boring into her own onyx eyes.

"Sasuke?" her brows furrowed slightly at the sudden appearance of the Uchiha, arms falling back to rest at her sides once again.

"Problem?"

"Yeah, you're an asshole." Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked sternly at the raven-haired teen standing in front of her.

Sasuke frowned slightly, his eyebrow twitching slightly. Rolling her eyes, Keichiro shook her head slightly.

"I'm only kidding," punching his shoulder lightly, "So what brings the Great Uchiha here?"

The raven smirked at the midnight-haired girl in front of him, having always enjoyed the kunoichi's company ever since they were young even before they studied to become shinobi. Since their childhood, Sasuke had spent quite some time over at the Hakuryuu compound, his mother being sisters with Keichiro's mother. So whenever Itachi couldn't watch him, he would tag along with his Okaa-san and of course the children were often sent out to play amongst themselves. Under no obligation was he to trust this meek looking girl, but in the end it proved advantageous to the both of them.

"Could we talk…privately?" Sasuke asked.

"Sounds serious. Is everything all right?" Keichiro replied, slightly concerned.

"Of course everything is all right. But can we talk?"

"I'm supposed to meet Sakura and the girls."

"It shouldn't take long."

"Last time you said that, I was 2 hours late…remember?"

"You are speaking as though I knew we would be attacked by a resurrected Kabuto." Sasuke ground out, irritation started to creep into his voice.

"I'm not saying it's your fault." Keichiro shrugged, "I'm just reminding you of what happened."

"I know what happened. I was there. Now can we please speak in private?"

Sighing, Keichiro checked the time on her phone, it read 2:30pm, the girls were late.

"Sure, where to?"


	3. Part III

**Part III**

_An hour and a half later…._

Tapping her foot impatiently, Sakura glanced at her cellphone for the umpteenth time that afternoon, with the sun shining brightly in clear blue skies. Sighing in frustration, she shoved her phone back in her pouch before leaning heavily on the railing of the bridge, while Ino and Hinata stood on either side of the frustrated girl.

"Um, maybe Keichiro-chan's just running late." Hinata said quietly.

"We were supposed to meet at 2 this afternoon. It's **4 o'clock** right now. Where is she?!" Sakura gritted out.

"You weren't exactly early either, Forehead-girl." Ino said, while flicking the hair of her ponytail.

"Shut up Ino-pig. I was only 55 minutes late." She huffed in her defense.

"Ano, are we still going as planned?" Hinata asked, twiddling her fingers.

"Yes we a-"

"Hey!"

All heads turned towards the voice, seeing who it was Sakura pushed herself off of the wooden railing and stood with her hands on her hips. Keichiro sprinted towards her friends, but stopped short when she saw the foreboding look Sakura had on her face.

"Sorry I was late. Got held up with something." The raven explained quickly.

"You were supposed to be here at 2, Keichiro." Sakura said, in a low voice.

"I was here at two, but you guys weren't here yet."

"You just said that you got held up." The pink-haired kunoichi narrowed her eyes, sensing that her friend was lying.

"Something came up. Things **can** happen between the time I was here waiting and the time you actually got here. I'm sorry. It's not like I was **really late**." Keichiro gave Sakura a sheepish smile, hoping that she would just let it drop.

"You had your phone didn't you?" Sakura questioned, "Why didn't you simply call or text?"

"I'm sorry, I was busy." The raven's smile dropped considerably, sensing a good chastising was on its way.

"You should be more responsible. We agreed to be here at 2 this afternoon, granted, some of us were not able to make it here on time. But you of all people to be late like this, is something that I cannot fathom the reason why." Sakura was breathing a little heavily now, it seemed like she was doing her best to keep her anger in check.

At a loss for words, Keichiro stood there numbly, not really comprehending why she was being told off. On a regular basis, whenever they decided to hang out, she was the one left standing at the meeting point with Hinata to keep her company while the rest of the gang would slowly show up.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you guys wait." Keichiro said awkwardly.

"It's fine, Keichiro-chan. We didn't wait very long." Hinata said kindly.

"Yeah, no biggie." Ino piped in, "Besides, it's not like the world's about to end."

"That's not the point, Ino-pig!" Sakura rounded on the blond, "We had to sit here, waiting for her to show up not knowing if something might have happened!"

It suddenly dawned on everyone why Sakura was being particularly sensitive to Keichiro's tardiness. It wasn't simply because she made them wait, it was deeply rooted to an incident that happened not so long ago, when it was almost imminent that they might have lost another friend. This realization must have shown on the raven's face because instead of looking like a kicked puppy, she had a look of regret and understanding. Making a move to touch her friend's shoulder, Sakura breathed a deep sigh and dodged her hand. Instead of accepting the warm gesture, the pink haired girl simply walked past her friend and headed for the village.

Sensing that her friends weren't following her, Sakura looked over her shoulder to see them staring at her.

"C'mon, were already behind schedule."

"Uh, right. Where to first?" Keichiro asked, walking up beside the pink-haired kunoichi.

Ino and Hinata followed suit, Hinata beside Keichiro, while Ino walked beside Sakura. All four girls set out to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

It was a little after eight thirty when the girls had decided to eat. Ino had suggested they try out the new restaurant that opened last month, Watami. Dragging their shopping along with them, they were quickly seated at one of the tables near the back, giving the girls more privacy in their conversations. As their waiter gave them the menus for the evening, they all scanned the different dishes the restaurant offered. Finding it difficult to decide, they each randomly picked something and sent off their waiter with their orders. Once the waiter was out of earshot, Ino and Sakura both squealed in delight, giggling like school girls.

"He is **so** cute." The platinum blond said, while throwing sideway glances at the server.

"It's obvious that he's new here. Did you notice? He kept blushing when he looked at either one of us." Sakura leaned forward on the table, to catch another glimpse of the boy.

"He's got a cute butt." Ino leaned back in her chair, biting her bottom lip as she did so.

Keichiro watched her friends antics with a disbelieving look, she rested her chin on the palm of her hand, while Hinata simply stared at her napkin in front of her. Raising an eyebrow at the constant squeals the blond and pink-haired kunoichis were making whenever a cute **male** waiter passed by, the raven rolled her eyes and sighed one of Shikamaru's trademark sighs.

"How old are the two of you?" the raven asked her two friends.

"18, why?" Sakura replied, without even turning to look at her friend.

"Cause you're both acting like you're 13 again."

"Kei-chan, there's nothing relatively **wrong** with staring at guys." Ino said in her defense.

"I thought there was only one guy you liked." The raven raised herself a little, placing both arms on the table.

"Well, that's where the problem is," Ino turned around to face Keichiro, "I don't think he feels the same way."

oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo

"HEY YOU THERE! CAREFUL WITH TENT!"

The Hokage huffed in irritation when she saw that the preparations for the Inter-Village Ball weren't even done properly. Rubbing her forehead with her thumb and index finger, she tried to ease the headache that had been building up since yesterday. The fact that the preparations were going well into the evening didn't help the situation either.

"Man, being Hokage isn't easy." The pig-tailed woman muttered under her breath.

"Tsunade-sama!"

Turning around at the sound of someone calling her, the blond felt a pang of dread when she saw who it was.

"What's the matter, Shizune?"

"Tsunade-sama, we received a letter from the Kazekage addressed to you." Shizune bowed slightly before handing her the letter.

Taking the folded letter from her assistant, Tsunade read the contents quickly, before going back and re-reading it again. Furrowing her brows, creating a really deep crease on her forehead, the blond Hokage bit her lip lightly.

"Hmm, this changes a few things."

"Nani, Hokage-sama?"

"The envoys from Suna won't be able to make it. Gaara, Temari and Kankurou are all on separate missions, so even this letter was written by the substitute kage."

Folding the letter again, the blond didn't bother to hide the frown on her face. Handing the letter back to Shizune, she turned her back on the construction happening behind her and headed back towards the Hokage's Tower.

Upon entering the confines of her office, Tsunade sat down heavily on her chair, closing her eyes and leaned back. Breathing out a sigh, she rubbed her fingers on her temples, trying to ease the throbbing pain that was threatening to split her head in two. Seeing this, Shizune made no sound as she followed the Godaime from the construction grounds to the office. Gently, she picked up Tonton before approaching the blond.

"Ano, Tsunade-sama, is everything all right?"

"I **will** win that bet." She gritted out.

"Nani?"

"It's nothing. Anyways, I'll just have to see if they could arrange for other diplomats to attend the ball."

With that said, Tsunade laid her head down on top of her desk, looking wearily at one pile of paperwork to the next. She groaned inwardly at the amount of work she had to do. Closing her eyes, she let the last rays of the sun to shine into the silent room. It wasn't long before a soft snore met Shizune's ears. Shaking her head slightly, she quietly backed out of the office and made sure to put up the 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on the door before she left.

"I wonder what 'bet' Hokage-sama has gotten herself into…again."

Shizune muttered quietly to herself as she moved further away from the office door. Arms still wrapped about the pink pig, the jounin started ticking off various possibilities for the basis of the 'bet'.

"If Jiraya-sama was still alive, I would have pegged him to be the initiator."

"Buhi! Bu-buhi!"

"I know he's not here with us anymore Tonton." Shizune said to the pig as she opened the door to her own office. "But, there has to be an instigator."

"Buhi!"


	4. Part IV

**Part IV**

"Okay, these are the pieces I think are the best. Out of …all the ones I've written before that is."

Slightly out of breath, Naruto held out a folder to his friends before settling down on one of the chairs recovered within the underground music room. He watched intently as Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba and Lee flipped through the pile of music sheets within the folder. All had their eyes brows raised in astonishment as they read through certain songs that caught their eye. They kept glancing from the music sheets to the blond sitting in front of them as if seeing Naruto for the first time in their shinobi lives. Neji took one of the many sheets of paper from the folder, although music was not his forte, he was still able to read the lyrics paired with the notes. The meaning of the song was deep and he too was surprised as everyone else.

Following Neji's example, both Lee and Kiba also fished a music sheet from the folder and began to read its contents. But it was not long before Kiba felt his jealousy start to boil over once again.

"How did you **write** these?!" Kiba practically yelled, waving the paper around.

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked at him blankly, clearly confused.

"I mean, this—what you wrote…it's **good**!" the dog-nin looked awkwardly at everyone, even Akamaru raised his head to look at his master questioningly.

"What are you getting at?" Naruto leaned forward on his chair, resting his elbows on his thighs; he put his weight on his arms while looking oddly at the messy haired brunette.

"Yes, Kiba-kun, what seems to be the problem?" Lee asked in turn.

"W-well, it's just that…you know…that…"Kiba trailed off, looking at all the blank faces that was staring back at him.

"Spit it out, will you?" Naruto was getting annoyed at the way Kiba was acting and he didn't bother to hide that fact.

"You're wondering how an idiot, a dead-last like Naruto, could write something so deep…am I right?" Shikamaru calmly stated eyes boring into those of the messy haired brunette.

Kiba swallowed, casting his eyes down, he refused to make eye contact with anyone in the room. Instead, he stared intently at the floorboards of the room, admiring its…woodiness.

"That's your problem?" Naruto asked, astonished that something as simple as being able to play and write his own music made his friend uneasy.

Kiba turned his head sharply away from Naruto's inquiring eyes, ashamed of himself for underestimating his own friend.

"**I** never would have guessed that you could play the **piano**. I don't see it as a big deal. It's cool…you don't have to be so touchy about it. I mean, who would've guessed that any of us could play…anything and form a band in **one** day?" Naruto said this in his usual manner and waited for Kiba's reply.

"Gomen, Naruto."

"Huh?"

"Gomen, I shouldn't have underestimated you like that." Kiba bowed his head, hiding his face, afraid to look Naruto in the eyes.

Naruto blinked twice before finally being able to digest what Kiba had said to him. Smiling his one-hundred watt smile, he started to laugh. Surprised at this, Kiba turned his head to look at the laughing blond. Seeing this, Kiba smiled as well and walked over to Shikamaru and put the music sheet back in the folder. Suddenly, a gurgling sound was emitted from the blond. Covering his stomach with his arms, Naruto sported a light blush on his nose. Smiling sheepishly at his friends, he scratched the back of his head. Just then, a series of sounds could be heard going around the room. Raising an eyebrow, Naruto burst out laughing as the others covered a hand over their stomachs.

"Let's break for," Shikamaru looked up at the opening in the floor, seeing the dying sun's rays, he deducted that it was late in the evening, "supper. Let's move out."

"Yeah, Ichiraku's here I come." Naruto quickly jumped out of the underground room, landing on the dojo floor.

Everyone else followed after the loud blond, Lee being the last one who came out, he made sure that all the instruments were placed properly. Turing off the lights, he too joined the rest of the group inside the dojo. Kneeling, he brushed his hand on the surface of the floor, looking for the trick floorboard. Finding it easily, they all watched as the twin doors closed upwards, closing off the instruments and their talents from the outside world.

Standing up, Lee gave everyone a thumbs up, complete with the 'nice guy' pose. Without waiting, Neji led the way out of the dojo, heading back to the village.

Night had long since fallen by the time they arrived at Ichiraku's for their late night supper. Ordering their usual from the menu, all five boys sat in comfortable silence as they waited for their respective bowls of ramen to be served. Shikamaru was sitting on Naruto's right, while the blond was flanked by none other than Kiba. Looking at the blond out of the corner of his eye, his look fell on the folder that the blond brought along.

"Your songs…did you write them with someone in mind?" the lazy nin asked, without even turning to look at the blond.

"Huh?" Naruto looked as Shikamaru's profile with his cerulean blue eyes, a blank expression on his face.

"When you wrote your songs, were you…thinking about anyone in particular?" the dark-haired teen nearly forced his question out.

"Why?" the blond asked slowly.

"Just thinking…" the boy paused, wondering if he should continue.

"What's the matter, Shikamaru-kun?" Lee asked from beside Kiba.

"When I read through your songs, there were a lot of emotions…feelings in them…and I was thinking…" again, the boy trailed off.

"What were you thinking?" Neji calmly asked.

oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo0oo

Ino sighed dejectedly after she finished telling her tale.

"I can't even compete with her." The platinum blond said sadly, before burying her head in her arms on the dining table, knocking over her glass of water in the process.

Using their napkins to stop the water from running everywhere, the three girls mopped up what they could of the liquid. Putting aside their soaked napkins, Sakura placed a sympathetic hand on her friend's shoulder as they shook with her silent sobs of sadness.

"I-I-I wi-wish th-th-that the o-o-one I l-l-liked w-was like y-y-your L-L-Lee, Sakura." The girl confessed tearfully.

"I don't think you'd be able to stand Lee." Sakura said in a light tone.

"Th-that's n-not th-the p-p-point. At l-l-least he r-returns y-your fe-feelings."

"Sakura only returned his feelings after Sasuke returned to the village." Keichiro said as a matter-of-factly.

This only caused the girl to sob even harder into the table, looking around the restaurant nervously, Sakura and Keichiro smiled nervously at the other patrons before looking at their blond friend again. The pink haired girl caught Keichiro's eyes and gave her a reprimanding look for what she said; the oriental girl shrugged her shoulders sheepishly in answer.

"Ino…" Sakura looked at her sobbing friend in distress.

The pink-haired kunoichi looked at her two friends for support, but they shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders, completely at a loss. Leaning across the table, Keichiro placed a hand on Ino's arm, gently shaking her.

"Hey, you know, you're not the only that has this type of dilemma." The raven said softly.

The blond looked up at Keichiro. Sniffling a few times, she managed to stop the flow of tears, long enough to hear what the raven had to say.

"What *sniff* do you mean?" the blond asked, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Sometimes it seems like they only see you as a comrade."

All heads turned to look at Hinata, who for the entire time that Ino was crying, hadn't uttered a word. Seeing that her other friends were looking at her attentively, waiting for her to continue, the indigo-haired girl felt her cheeks burn with her trademark blush. But, instead of casting her eyes down and avoiding everyone's eyes, she remained quite still, looking at each of her friends in turn.

"What?" Ino had stopped crying, but an occasional hiccup would make itself heard.

"Um…sometimes it's like he only sees you as someone on his team and nothing more. But then, he does something that makes you feel like you mean more than a teammate. Other times, it's like he doesn't even know I exist. He tells me that I've improved, that I'm doing better…that I'm able to face my own inner fears...and then…" Hinata trailed off, the sudden realization of what she said dawned on her and she quickly lowered her head, a heavy blush staining her cheeks.

"Or you feel like they're watching you, studying every detail, and when you're around other guys, you can tell that he gets uneasy about it… but then, when I try to talk to him, carry on a conversation, he just shuts himself away…and then you wonder if what you see or feel is really what's going on, or something you imagined." Keichiro added softly.

"Yeah, but you guys don't have to compete with another girl." Ino said grumpily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I really don't know…"

Dinner was eaten without much mention of the previous topic. The atmosphere having lightened considerably after Ino's sudden crying fit, all four girls enjoyed the remainder of the evening talking about missions, guys and what 18 year old girls usually talk about. It was a little after ten when they finished their meal, paid the bill and left the restaurant. Once outside, they walked along the empty main street of Konoha, each carrying bulky bags full of a day's shopping. Reaching the intersection, they bade each other goodnight, each heading for home…and time to think.


	5. Part V

**Part V**

Sasuke glared at the piece of paper in front of him, burning holes straight through the thin material. Crossing out whatever was written on the paper again; Sasuke pressed his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose, sighing in frustration. Rubbing his face with his hand, he looked at the sheet of paper, his right hand poised over the doodled page with his pen. He stayed like that for a few seconds before he simply slammed the pen onto the polished surface of the table. Getting up from his seat, he started to pace around his study, running a hand through his dark locks. Looking at the clock sitting on top of his desk, he wondered what was keeping his late night guest. Resting his elbows on the mahogany surface of his desk, his gaze went back to the picture on his bookshelf.

Looking around at the furniture that adorned the walls and floor of this particular room, the raven could see that nothing much has been moved ever since he decided to move back. All the rooms looked the same as it had the day his family was murdered by his older brother. Nothing has changed after he was left to live all alone during the years he was a genin in Team 7. Now, 5 years later, all the furniture that could be found within the Uchiha household hasn't even moved a millimeter away from its original position.

Sighing, Sasuke suddenly realized that most everything around him was a part of his past. A past that seemed to resurface everywhere he turned and looked. It was like a plague, the scent and feel of the past lingered in the air, like the scent of an old perfume that refused to dissipate.

Walking over to the open window in his study, the raven leaned his lean frame on the window sill, basking in the moon's light. Closing his eyes, his mind immediately swam with images of -

"Quit fooling around Keichiro"

Sasuke smirked when he heard the light sound of feet hitting the ground.

"Damn, you're good."

"Hn."

"I think remember why I didn't like playing hide-and-go-seek with you when we were younger."

"I always found you no matter where you hid?"

"Yes and you were freaky fast to boot."

Standing to the left of Sasuke, the midnight-haired girl leaned her hip against the window sill. Turning her head, she too stared at the inky darkness of the night sky. Minutes passed as both shinobis simply looked out at the starless sky, letting the moon bathe them in her ethereal light. Glancing over at the raven beside her, Keichiro noted that the boy also lacked his usual 'I'm-Better-Than-Thou-So-Fuck-Off' air about him.

"So…do you have a plan?" Keichiro tentatively prodded.

The only answered she received was silence. The boy seemed lost in his own thoughts, having completely forgotten that his cousin was standing right beside him. Rolling her eyes, Keichiro shook her head slightly before pushing herself off the window sill and walked over to the Uchiha's desk. It was then that she noticed the amount of crumpled balls of paper, blank music sheets, pencils and other junk littered the usually tidy surface of the desk. Tilting her head to the side, she raised an eyebrow in question at the sight of the messy bureau. Noticing one of the balls of paper closest to her, she bent to pick it up, but the object in question was quickly snatched out of her hand.

"You're welcome." The girl said in a dead-pan tone to the Sharingan user, hand still outstretched in the same position as when the paper was picked up.

"Gomen, Kei-chan"

Sasuke stared hard at the crumpled piece of paper in his hands, as if this simple action would create something from the nothingness he felt inside. He glanced up at the girl standing a little way away from him; it was then that he realized how much she has changed from their genin years. He noticed how big she was, compared to her 5 year old self. He remembered how easy it was to throw her into a dumpster, close the lid and walk away, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to get out on her own and that it should teach her a lesson when it came to playing with his kunai. But, eventually, he would let her out, awkwardly comfort her and maybe give her a piece of candy to make her forget how mean he was.

The memory of a certain someone caused him to turn his back on the girl to end up staring at the group picture of Team 7. Scowling at the photograph, Sasuke slammed the picture onto the shelf, hiding the smiling faces of his old teammates before stalking off to his desk. Sitting down heavily onto the fauteuil, Sasuke continued glaring at the face-down picture as if hoping his look alone would cause it to melt. Seeing Sasuke's odd behavior, Keichiro didn't interrupt the raven, not because she feared him, but because she knew he felt lost and alone.

"Sasuke-onii-chan?" the midnight-haired girl asked tentatively.

Sasuke continued to glare at the picture, completely ignoring the girl.

"Onii-chan, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Again Keichiro tried, but to no avail. The Uchiha had decided to shut off the outside world, boxing himself in his own universe, in his own mind. Walking closer to the desk, Keichiro placed her hands on top of the desk, leaning forward, waving a hand in front of Sasuke's face.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

"Hn."

"Well, that's better than nothing." She said deadpanned.

"Hn" was Sasuke's only response.

"Fine, I'll do the talking and you…just…grunt or whatever." Keichiro said, giving in.

Sasuke glanced at Keichiro, who had now turned her back to him, letting the Uchiha drift off in his own thoughts again. Turning to look at the Sharingan user, Keichiro noted the blank look he had. Sighing in exasperation, Keichiro threw her hands up in defeat.

"Or, we could do this another time." She said this while starting to walk towards the door.

"Now is a good time."

Sasuke's words stopped Keichiro in her tracks. With her hand on the handle of the sliding door, she turned her head to look at the last remaining Uchiha. Giving him an annoyed look, the raven-haired girl rolled her eyes before letting go of the handle.

"I think I need to get 'Bitchy Lessons' from Temari." The girl muttered to herself.

"You're fine the way you are. Now, let's focus on this." Sasuke said pointedly at the papers littering his desk, while grabbing a fresh piece of paper and a pen. "Unless you'd like me to throw you into a dumpster?"

"I'd like to see you try." The girl dared.

"Maybe some other time. Right now, focus and write."

"It would make it **a lot** easier, if you told me who this person is." Keichiro looked at Sasuke with pleading eyes, but it seemed that the raven was immune to such looks.

"No."

"Oh, come on! I promise not to tell." The girl smiled sweetly at Sasuke, but again was turned down with a look.

"No"

"Do you seriously expect me to just pull something out of a hat and hope it's good enough?"

"No, I don't want it to be good enough…I want it to be perfect." Sasuke gave her a 'dead serious' stare, putting an end to all the complaints she wanted to voice out.

"This is **not** going to be easy." Keichiro grimaced, but snagged a blank sheet from under Sasuke's elbow and stealing the pen he was using.

"That's why you're here." The boy replied, opening one of the desk drawers, he pulled out another pen and started to write.

"I feel **so** special." Keichiro said deadpanned, pen poised over the blank sheet.

"You should. Not many girls have come this far into the mansion without being thrown out by yours truly." Sasuke smirked.

"You do realize that I'm not that well versed in these situations." His cousin warned.

"Neither am I, but you are a girl and girls do possess a sense of these things…don't they?"

"This is more in Sakura or Ino's area of expertise."

"Are you suggesting I go to one of them for help with a matter of the heart?" Sasuke asked, feeling a cold chill run down his back at the thought of the pink and blond duo. The raven knew that if they even got a whiff of him wanting to confess his feelings for someone, they would kill to know who it was. Or they would just simply badger him to no end, which reminded him of a younger Sakura who clung to him like double-sided tape on a stage floor.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you just told them…straight out? I mean, do you think they'll understand this?" the dragon-nin was beginning to regret agreeing to help the boy.

"They'll understand…I know they will."

"Okay, as long as you know what you're doing."

"Don't people in movies do this type of thing?" Sasuke asked, slightly curious.

"Sometimes, but it's usually one of those well-made-play type scripts…you know?"

"No."

"Well, it's just how the story goes. It has to have a happy ending." His cousin struggled to explain.

"Very well. Let's hope that this story will end well for us as well."

"Hopefully…."


	6. Part VI

**Part VI**

"Did I hear you right?" Kiba smiled mischievously, "Our Shikamaru wants to write a **love** song?"

"That wasn't what I said. I said that maybe we could—"

"Write something of our own. Maybe dedicate it to a certain someone." Kiba mimicked evilly.

Shikamaru just frowned, looking straight in front of him, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Kiba continued to snicker at the lazy-nin's words, but in reality, the same thought had been floating around in his mind ever since he looked at Naruto's work. In fact, the same thought flitted around in a certain Hyuuga's mind as well as he weighed the pros and cons about writing something like that. Although virtually without any musical talent whatsoever, he could always write the thoughts and emotions we wanted to convey and maybe have Naruto or Shikamaru do the singing for him. However, just the thought of having someone else do the work for him made him feel, useless. A notion he despised more than being the lower class of his clan.

"But, Kiba-kun, a lot of songs are written with someone in mind…it's not uncommon—" Lee started.

"I know. But that statement coming from Shikamaru…"Kiba paused and looked at the pony-tailed teen, "It's a whole different story."

"Have you never written a poem for a girl you liked?" Lee asked in a serious tone.

"I don't need to write a poem to get a girl to like me." The dog-nin replied smugly.

"No, all you have to do is talk and they run." Naruto laughed at his own joke.

"Hey! Unlike **you**, I've had plenty of girlfriends." The messy haired brunette shouted at the blond.

"'Plenty' meaning Hinata and Keichiro…and they don't count." The blond said seriously at the brunette, a smile playing at his lips seeing his friend all flustered.

"You went out with Keichiro?"

All heads turned to look at the Hyuuga sitting next to Shikamaru, who was looking intently at Kiba, waiting for his reply. Feeling the intensity of Neji's stare, Kiba knew that he was treading in hot water. Judging by the way he was being looked at, if he said anything remotely suggesting that he **had** gone out with the dragon-nin or had **thought **about it…let's just say that they would be one member less for their performance. Seeing Neji's reaction to be Naruto's fault, the brunette punched the blond, getting his attention.

"Ow! What?!" the blond glared at Kiba.

"You started this, now fix it." Kiba muttered, eyes glancing at Neji.

"Did you?" Neji repeated his question.

"Did I what?" Kiba asked innocently.

A vein could be seen working near Neji's temple, Naruto, Kiba and Lee unconsciously slid their stools away from the teen. Through all this, Shikamaru was doing a very good job at ignoring his friends and whatever they were talking about. His mind having drifted off to other things, didn't take in the seriousness of the present situation. Having rested his arm on the counter-top, he rested his chin on the palm of his hand, a serene expression taking over his usually bored facial features.

"Kiba" Neji said slowly over Shikamaru's head, waiting for the brunette to reply.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The boy answered quickly, using Naruto as a shield between Neji and himself.

"Neji-kun, why don't you calm down?" Lee said, trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah, I mean, I was just joking around." Naruto held up his hands in front of him, in a futile attempt to shield himself.

"It was only a mission! Nothing happened, I swear." Kiba added in a rush.

"What mission? When was this?" Neji ground out.

"A few months ago, we were sent to get intel on a suspected criminal who was posing as the town's mayor."

"And?"

"We played a married couple to get close to the guy. That's it!" Kiba said desperately.

The Hyuuga's right eye seemed to twitch a little after hearing the rest of what Kiba had said. The Byakugan user could just picture the two of them together, pretending to be a loving couple as they focused on getting close to their mark. Gritting his teeth, Neji turned his attention back to the bar, glaring daggers at the wooden counter.

"Naa, Naruto…" Shikamaru interrupted.

"Nani, Shikamaru?" the blond glanced at the spikey-haired teen, while keep a wavering eye on Neji, yet glad for the interruption.

"Sorry for the wait boys. Here. Enjoy." Ayame gave all five boys their respective bowls of ramen, and then disappeared to the back of the restaurant.

"All right! Thanks Ayame nee-chan."

Grabbing a pair of chopsticks from the container, Naruto quickly separated the twin batons. Completely forgetting Kiba and Neji's current situation, he put his hands together and bowed his head.

"Itadakimasu!"

He immediately began to dig into his food, stuffing ramen into his mouth. Kiba's jaw dropped when he saw his friend give up his position as a body shield for his bowl of ramen. Chancing a glance at the Hyuuga, Kiba was relieved when he saw the other teen staring at his food, as if his look alone would cause it to burn. Breathing out a relieved sigh, Kiba followed Naruto's example by grabbing a pair of chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu." The boy muttered, bowing his head before starting to work on his own bowl of noodles.

By this time, everyone had begun eating their food, save for Neji, who was still staring at his bowl, as if the noodles had offended him and they would receive punishment through his glare.

"Ano, Shikamaru-kun," Lee asked, "What were you trying to say before?"

"Huh?" the boy looked up from his bowl of ramen at the taijutsu master.

"Yeah, you wanted to say something before…what was it?" Naruto looked at the lazy-nin, mouth still full of ramen, waiting for Shikamaru to say something.

"Oh…that…" Shikamaru paused, not sure if he should continue or stop before he's even started.

Turning to look at his half-finished bowl of noodles, the spikey-haired boy stared pensively at the ramen and other ingredients swimming in the broth. He stayed like that for a few minutes, head full of questions that he knew he should be able to answer. Shikamaru sighed, knowing that he was expected to have the answers to everything, or be capable of finding a solution to any problem. Yet here he was, unable to find an answer to the one question that has been at the back of his mind. It was troublesome in his opinion, to have to think about it, but the problem wasn't with him thinking about it. The problem was about confirming the answer.

"It's troublesome…." The boy muttered.

"Everything's troublesome for you Shikamaru." Naruto laughed, finishing his bowl of ramen and reaching for a second.

"What is it?" Lee asked with a serious expression on his face.

"Yeah, why don't you share it with the rest of the class?" Kiba said, giving the dark-haired boy his crooked smile, showing his fang.

"I, too, would like to hear you have to say." The Hyuuga added.

"You guys are troublesome…"

The boy paused, a part of him wanting to just stop talking about it, yet a part of him wanted…needed to hear what they had to say about the matter. Sighing, he pushed back his bowl of ramen and rested his elbows on the counter top. Lacing his fingers together, the lazy-nin rested his chin on his laced fingers, staring intently at the pot of ramen in Ichiraku's kitchen.

"Nothing leaves this stand…anything you hear stays here…got it?"

"Wow, it must be **really** serious." The dog-nin commented.

"It's not a problem. I promise." The blond grinned at Shikamaru, "I never go back on my word, you got it!"

"Yosh! I will not breathe a word of it to anyone else." Lee gave his 'nice guy' pose for Shikamaru and grinned.

"Hn, I don't have a habit of gossiping, so you don't really need to worry." Neji replied, giving Shikamaru a blank stare.

"Lee…how did you realize that Sakura returned your feelings?"

Everyone simply stared at the lazy-nin with wide eyes, not really understanding the point of the question. Lee licked his lips and shifted a little in his seat, thinking about the way he was going to answer the boy. The rest of boys glanced uncertainly at each other, knowing deep down, they had the same question floating around in their heads…about how they can know for sure their special someone returns their feelings…not how Lee and Sakura ended up together.

"Well, it's a rather long story…" the taijutsu master began.

"Try to make it short Gejimayu. I don't really want to know **all** the details." The blond said with a small grimace on his face.

"Well, the thing is, at that time, I **knew** I loved her from the bottom of my heart."

All four boys groaned when they heard what Lee said, knowing that the boy will go on and on, telling them every single detail about his fight to get his way into the heart of Sakura. Yet, it seemed that the Taijutsu master didn't notice the expressions on his friends' faces and continued on with his story.

"But whatever I did to try and woo her and to get her to accept me, she refused me. It hurt me deep…but the Spring of Youth told me not to give up. So I continued to—"

"Lee, short and to the point please." Kiba said in a strained voice

"show her my love and affection, from love cards, to poems, to dedicating a song to her over Konoha Radio. I did it all. But Sakura wasn't going easy on me; she wanted me to prove myself to her. I took her silent challenge and went through all the lengths possible to prove to her that my love for her was genuine."

Lee ignored his friend's request and continued on with his story, going through every single detail imaginable, causing Naruto to have a sudden urge to regurgitate his food when Lee started describing how he had tried to kiss his pink-haired teammate.

"ARGH! LEE! STOP IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Pressing his hands to his ears, Naruto tried to bury his head in Shikamaru's chest, trying to muffle Lee's talking. Lee paused long enough to watch Naruto squirm in imaginary pain and Shikamaru trying to push the blond off of him. The taijutsu master looked at the display with confusion written all over her face, unable to comprehend the reason for the loud blonde's reaction. The blond continued to scream in fear, while the lazy-nin kept trying to push him away and onto Kiba, who didn't react for he had already fainted when Lee started to talk about his sexual advances on the pink-haired medic nin.

"Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh…..Lee…stooooooooop….."Kiba groaned.

"Lee…I'll ask again….but this time please, **please** just answer the fucking question…" Shikamaru asked weakly, his mind having been polluted by the other teen.

"Gomen" Lee bowed to the other teen, smiling brightly, "I will try my best."

"How did you know...Sakura liked you back?" the lazy-nin asked weakly, dreading what the taijutsu teen would say.

"She—"

"TO THE POINT!" All four boys yelled at the thick-eye browed teen, causing him to flinch slightly.

"Well…she…Sakura-chan…she sang me a song…"Lee began slowly, "that was pretty much it."

"WHAT?!" they cried.

"Ano…"

"What do you mean **she** sang you a song?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"She picked out a beautiful love song and she sang it during open mic night at that club." Lee answered.

"That's…hard to believe…" Shikamaru muttered.


	7. Part VII

**Part VII**

Sitting down on the edge of her queen-sized bed, Hinata let he weight fall on the soft mattress without changing out of her usual attire, which consisted of a sweater and dark blue pants. Spreading her arms, she let her lavender-white eyes scan the ceiling of her dark room, watching the moon light dance on the walls of her home. Rolling onto her side, she lay facing the window, getting a perfect view of the village under the glow of the moon. Breathing out a sigh, she reveled in the privacy she now had over her life. Having gotten permission from her strict father to allow her to live on her own, away from the protection of the clan, it was only that she felt a sense of self in the environment which she can now call her own.

It was rather unusual for Hinata to have her way, especially with her father, who in other people's opinion, controlled her life to the smallest detail possible to actually grant her request. Yet, somehow, the indigo-haired kunoichi thought that it was mostly because of her older cousin that her father agreed to such a request, especially from the daughter he thought was completely useless. Turning to lie on her back again, her thoughts drifted off to others things, besides the fact that she had somehow earned a bit of freedom from her overbearing father.

Pushing herself up, Hinata grabbed the shopping bags from the corner of her room, dragging them to her bed. Pulling out the contents, she looked at them with growing interest, wondering if **he** would notice her when she wore them at the ball. Slipping off her coat, sandals and pants, the lavender-white eyed girl slipped on the outfit and the matching shoes. Stepping in front of the full length mirror Sakura and Ino had bought her, Hinata took in her appearance. She gasped a little when she saw the person looking back at her, wondering if that was really her reflection in the depths of the mirror. Raising her right hand, the indigo-haired girl went to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. Letting her fingertips ghost over the side of her face, then her neck, the contours of her chest, hips and stopping at her thighs, Hinata stared at her reflection, unable to believe that this was herself.

"I wonder if he'll like it."

Feeling a little giddy, Hinata twirled around once in front of the mirror, watching the flow of the fabric as she moved. Adjusting her clothes a bit, Hinata pulled down the zipper at the back, slipping of the garment off. Grabbing a towel from her wardrobe, a set of pyjamas and underwear, the girl proceeded to the bathroom. Locking the bathroom door, she went to turn on the tap of the tub, filling it with hot water. The bathroom was quickly filled with steam, fogging up the mirror that stood above the sink. Placing her toiletries on the wide counter next to the sink, Hinata looked up at the fogged up mirror. Lifting her right hand, she wiped away the steam that built up on the surface of the mirror and once again studied her reflection. Tilting her head to the side, she frowned slightly at herself, seeing but not seeing who she was.

"Have a really changed?" she murmured to no one in particular.

She paused, questions were now flooding through her mind, yet she was unable to answer any of them; unable to provide an answer for herself. Her thoughts eventually drifted to the conversation she had had with her friends at dinner earlier that evening and her questions became even harder for her to answer. Hinata stared at her reflection for a few more seconds before turning her back to it. Walking over to the bathtub, she turned off the water and gently lowered her body into the clear liquid. Immediately, she felt herself relax into the warmth of the water.

Closing her eyes, her mind began to wander again, back to what she and her friends had talked about. Hinata knew that she didn't have much experience in matters of the heart and she knew that the only other person that has ever made her feel this way was none other than Naruto Uzumaki. This thought didn't provide much insight of the girl, since she needed a way, any kind of way, to find out the truth. The lavender-white eyed girl knew how painful it was to hide your feelings for the one you liked … she didn't want to go through that again.

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"I'M HOME!!"

Taking off her sandals, Ino ignored the silence that answered her instead of her mother or father's cheerful voices. Bringing all the bags she was carrying up to her room, the platinum blond made her way over to the bathroom adjacent to her room. Stepping inside onto the tiled floor and flicking on the light, she looked at herself in the mirror above the porcelain sink. Leaning on her hands, she looked at her profile, first the right side, then the left, slowly she smoothed out any wrinkles in her daily outfit, going from her chest and stopping at her hips. She admired her reflection, smiling appreciatively at what she saw. But her smile soon turned to a frown as her thoughts landed on the one person she had been dying to look at her the way other guys looked at her.

Ino's shoulders slumped as she thought of **her**, the only person she knew who could attract his attention with the slightest comment. Flipping the light switch off, the bathroom was once again bathing in darkness. Making her way back to her dimly lit room, the blond slumped on the cushioned chair in front of the vanity on the side of her room next to the window. Once again, Ino looked at her reflection, but this time she didn't spend that much time admiring her perfect features.

"It's not like he's going to notice anyway."

Her attention fell to the many bags that littered the floor of her room at the foot of her bed. Breathing out a sigh, she reached for one of the many bags, pulling it towards her. Opening it, she looked at the contents within the sack. A look of surprise graced her soft features when she realized that she was looking at the garment that she had been longing to buy. She remembered that she had mentioned it to **him** once, hoping that **he** would compliment her or comment about the outfit. As the memories begin to come back to her, she realized that he didn't say anything.

"I bet if it was **her** asking, he would have told her something nice."

Taking out the piece of garment out of the bag, she let the fabric flow through her fingers, watching as the light reflected off of the material. Putting down the bag, Ino held the garment up and walked over to her closet. Opening the door on the right, revealing a full length mirror, Ino started to pose in front of it. She smiled happily at her reflection, as she watched the way the material flowed with her own movements.

"Well, I like it and that's what's important."

The girl told herself confidently, knowing that even if the one she wants to notice her doesn't, she'll have no regrets about it. Taking a deep breath, Ino tossed the newly purchased item on her double bed and sat at the end of her bed. Going through each bag that lay there, she looked at all her purchases, an occasional thought drifting towards **him** but she was quick to push it aside.

"At least I know how I feel."


	8. Part VIII

A/N: Sorry about the wait guys, hope I haven't kept you guys waiting too too long -sweatdrops- gomen nasai. Anyways, Part IX and X will be up **very** soon...please be patient and thank you guys, so much, for your support -smiles-

Disclaimer: well...the basics and Keichiro Hakuryuu is mine...**mine**...sorry, lack of sleep oTTTTo

ENJOY!!!

**Part VIII**

"Naa…Sasuke, I can't think anymore. I've already run out of ideas."

Keichiro was slumped on the desk, her arms cradling her head, her pen was dangling between her fingers above a piece of paper underneath her arms. Surrounding her and the Uchiha, crumpled pieces of paper littered the desk and floor, more so now since the midnight-haired girl came to help. Paying no attention to what she said, Sasuke bit the cap of his pen and continued to write. Seeing this, Keichiro didn't move, instead she made a face at the stoic Uchiha. Grabbing the wad of paper closest to her, she threw it at the boy, hitting the top of his head. She giggled lightly at the sight, obviously amused by the result and slightly surprised that Sasuke hadn't done anything to stop her. Pausing in his writing, he glanced up from his work to glare at the dragon-nin.

"If you want to go, the door's right over there." Sasuke said calmly, before returning once again to his writing.

"That's not what you said two hours ago." Keichiro scowled, her smile leaving her lips.

"What time is it?" The Sharingan user asked without looking up from his work.

"Umm…" the raven took out her cell from her pocket and checked for the time, "It is now 11:56 and way past your bedtime child."

"Shut up."

Nevertheless, Sasuke put down the pen he had been using and surveyed the state of his study. Little piles of paper had started to build up here and there, where both he and Keichiro sat. Having long overloaded the waste baskets, where most of the failed pieces finding a place either there or on the floor, the boy sighed at the sight of the mess he and his friend made. Sasuke was amazed at his own ability to create such a mess within the confines of his own abode.

"Well, I guess we could take a break…" Sasuke said softly.

Glancing down at what he had written down, reading his words written in his curved handwriting. Sasuke frowned, trying to think of something else he could add, to make it sound better and mean even more. Keichiro noticed the frown on the raven, raising her head from the desk, she tried to see what the boy had written to have him looking so pensive.

Reaching over to her friend, she tried to grab the sheet of paper, but the stoic boy stopped her movements. Instead of letting her have his paper, he went and grabbed hers from underneath her arms.

"Hey! No fair." The girl complained.

"I never play fair." Sasuke smirked at Keichiro.

Looking at the small paragraph the girl had written, Sasuke was surprised at the anger behind those words. He read them again, slowly this time, trying to read between the lines as well as finding any hidden meaning in those words. He did this a few more times before looking at his own work. While he read the words that were written, he suddenly felt the need to add those words, those feelings into his own. Immediately, Sasuke began to copy the words, changing a few things here and there, filling in the gaps that were missing in his own piece of writing.

The midnight-haired girl watched in silence as the Uchiha scrutinized her work. Having a sudden urge to yell at the boy for copying her stuff, she thought better of it when she saw the look of determination on his face. Sitting there in silence, she waited for the raven to finish before she questioned him about his actions.

"Perfect…this is perfect." The boy muttered to himself.

"What is perfect?" Keichiro asked.

"This," Sasuke waved the sheet of paper in front of Keichiro's face, "This is going to make some girls cry."

"It's not exactly a hard thing for you to do, you know." The girl said, rubbing the fatigue out of her eyes.

"When is the Ball taking place again?" the Uchiha asked, ignoring her previous comment.

"Sometime next month…I think…I don't remember…"

Keichiro buried her head in her arms again, wanting nothing more than to go curl up in her bed. Raising her head to look at the raven sitting in front of her, Keichiro suddenly realized the question he asked.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked slowly, brows knitted in suspicion.

Sasuke simply looked at her and gave her a small smile. Folding up the sheet of paper, the Uchiha placed it inside one of the many drawers of his desk. Standing up, he nodded towards the door, before leading the way.

"You're not going to tell me are you?"

Sasuke had already slid open the sliding door, ignoring her question, he started walking down one of the many long corridors inside his house, leaving Keichiro behind in his study. Groaning in frustration, the raven pushed herself off of the desk and sprinted after the last Uchiha.

"Sasuke!! Stop being such an asshole and tell me already!"

Keichiro yelled after the boy, but all that came in answer was silence. Clenching her fists in frustration, she ran down the hall in the same direction that Sasule was going. Going down a few different corridors, she finally caught up with him in front of his room. Slightly out of breath, she threw him a glare.

"So…are you going to tell me something?" she asked, panting slightly.

"Yes," Sasuke opened the door to his room, "Good night."

With that, he closed the door quietly behind him, leaving a very outraged Keichiro standing outside his door.

"You owe me, Uchiha!!"

"Good night Keichiro"

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"That's…**it**?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So…she just…sang you a…a song?"

Lee nodded with wide eyes, wondering why it was so hard to understand such an easy concept.

"Yeah…it was a simple action, but the meaning held behind the song still brings tears to my eyes. I can still remember her –"

"OKAY!! We got it, we got it!" Kiba stopped Lee before he started to talk again, "You don't have to explain yourself. It's cool. Really."

"But Kiba-kun, I must tell you how she presented herself when she decided to profess her love for **me**. It was—"

"NO!"

All four boys immediately stopped Lee before he started rambling on again. Lee stared at them, unmoving, with his mouth in the form of an 'O', surprised at their sudden outburst. Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto and Kiba all had their hand outstretched in front of them, emphasizing the need for the thick eye-browed boy to cease his talking. They all let go of the breath they didn't know they were holding when they saw Lee stand there, frozen, not sure what to do with himself. Said boy looked at each of his friends faces, looking for a clue as what to do next, but the only expression he could see was the look of relief. Finally, Neji looked at the motionless Lee, standing there like a statue.

"Thank you, Lee, for the enlightening story about you and Sakura's…relationship." Neji glanced at the others before continuing with a strained face, " But I think we have the information we need, so…you can save the rest of your…life experiences for another time."

"Yeah, we totally get it. And we figured out what we're gonna do. So, it's cool…really." Kiba added in a rush.

"Are you sure? I don't mind telling you guys, cause we're friends and that's what friends are—"

"No! We understood, completely. It's fine!"

"Oh…okay then…" Lee looked down at the floor for a few seconds, "Are you guys **really** sure?"

"Positive, Fuzzy-brows. It's all good."

"Lee, just shut up." Neji said coolly.

Lowering his head, the bowl hair cut boy bit his bottom lip and sat quietly on his stool, while the others started to talk amongst themselves about what they planned on doing at the ball.

"All right, so…besides Naruto, has anyone ever written something…romantic before?" Shikamaru asked, not really knowing how to word his question properly.

Naruto threw awkward glances at his friends, already knowing the answer to the question the lazy-nin asked. Not paying any real attention to the conversation happening around him, Naruto looked up at the ink black sky, he smiled, the memory of someone close to his heart started floating through his mind. The blond breathed a sigh, seeing as how the midnight darkness of the evening reminded him of the dark locks that adorned the head of his special someone and how the inky blackness also brought forth memories of ink black lipid pools that seemed to see right through him.

"Naruto…"

A hand was being waved in front of said blond's face, but the dreamy look didn't leave, instead a goofy smile started to form. Kiba, Shikamaru and Neji looked the blond as if he had gone crazy; without thinking, Kiba kicked the stool out from under Naruto, causing the boy to fall flat on his ass.

"OW!! ITAI!! WHAT THE FUCK WAS **THAT** FOR?!"

"You were day-dreaming…well, in this case, night-dreaming." Kiba answered as a matter-of-factly.

"Couldn't you have…waved your hand in front of my face or…something?" the blond retorted angrily.

"He did, but you were still on the moon." Neji answered.

The boy grumbled as he righted his stool and took his place seating between Shikamaru and Kiba. The others watched with mild interest as Naruto plunked himself back down on his stool, their minds occupied with the proceedings of the small concert they were to perform in.

Shikamaru's frown deepened with the lack of an answer to his previous question, even though he knew that that would most likely be the answer, he hoped otherwise. It was blatantly obvious that no one has ever actually put down their feelings on paper before…let alone sing it out loud for the entire world to hear. He chanced a glance at the grumbling blond sitting next to him, wondering if they would be able to pull it off.

"I guess the answer's obvious…isn't it?" Shikamaru sighed, his dark eyes focused on an invisible spot on the wall in front of him.

"Yeah…don't really know how to write stuff like Naruto…" the dog-nin admitted, turning his head to side.

"Hn."

Naruto listened to their statements in silence, in the same manner as Lee, who hadn't said a word since everyone told him to stay quiet. The blond knew that what he wrote, the lyrics, the music, the beat…were all things that he felt within his own heart. Thinking back, he never knew how to write songs where he could belt out his anger or his affection for the one he loved. In fact he knew nothing about how to rhyme or the difference between a bridge and chorus. He smiled sadly when he remembered that the only reason why he got so good at it, was because the one he harbored feelings for, would never return them.

"You know…" Naruto began, "you guys could write down how you feel about whoever it is and I could write something for you…**"**

"That would be great…if we knew how to do that…"Kiba said in a defeated tone.

"What?" Naruto looked at the dog-nin with raised eyebrows, "are you trying to tell me…you **don't know** how to write down your feelings…or you just don't know **how** you feel?"

"Both." Neji said, deadpanned.

Naruto's blinks were almost audible as he stared wide eyed at his friends, finding it hard to believe what they were saying.

"You're…kidding…right?"

The silence gave Naruto the answered he feared. Taking a deep breath, the blond ran his hands through his unruly hair before smoothing it back down.

"That's going to be a bit of a problem." The blond sighed

"Is there anything we can do?"

"How about we talk about this tomorrow?" Lee yawned, stretching his arms above his head.

"That's not a bad idea." Kiba said through a yawn, accompanied by a small whimper from Akamaru.

"Aa, let's meet at the dojo first thing in the morning." Shikamaru said, eyes already beginning to droop with sleep.

"Hn."

They paid for their food and left, Naruto waving goodbye to the old man before following his friends. They walked in silence until they reached an intersection, with a nod and wave they left, going separate ways.


End file.
